Chiropractor and former lawmaker James Gordon files for bankruptcy

Former state Rep. James O. Gordon stands in Mobile Government Plaza on June 26, 2006.

James Gordon, the chiropractor and former Democratic state representative, filed for bankruptcy Aug. 25, along with his business, the Alabama Injury & Pain Clinic.

The move follows what legal records show to be a mounting trail of financial distress for Gordon and his once-expansive chiropractic business. Among the troubles is a $1 million verdict that a truck driver won against the business following a 2006 wreck.

The Alabama Injury & Pain Clinic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and is still operating. Gordon personally filed for Chapter 13, which usually involves creating a plan to repay creditors over time.

"We plan to attempt to restructure, so we can be a little bit leaner and efficient," Gordon said. He attributed his trouble to the bad economy and time he spent away from the business while in the Legislature. Gordon was elected to the state House in 2006 and lost in the Democratic primary in 2010.

The clinic is well-known for ads urging accident victims to call 476-PAIN, and for yellow vehicles lettered with the company’s name in purple.

The business lists debts to 12 creditors worth around a total of $2 million. Gordon declined to discuss specific debts, saying that he hoped "all the bills of yesteryear will be addressed in coming weeks."

Debts include $1.1 million owed to Dana Hartley, a Mobile County resident and former truck driver.

Hartley was injured in a wreck involving a pain clinic employee who had driven Gordon to Montgomery when Gordon was in the Legislature. The assistant then used the car, which was rented by the company, to run personal errands in Greenville, where the wreck happened.

Hartley’s lawyer, John Spencer of Mobile, said Hartley suffered back injuries and is unable to work.

After a jury awarded $1 million, Hartley and Gordon went to mediation. According to a June lawsuit filed in Mobile County Circuit Court, the clinic agreed to settle the $1 million debt for a total of $75,000, paid over four years. The suit, which names Gordon personally, says he guaranteed $45,000 himself, and accuses him of breach of contract and fraud.

"He never even made the first payment," said Spencer. "Now he’s run off and filed bankruptcy."

Court records show the clinic owes $302,000 to the IRS for back taxes. Commonwealth National Bank foreclosed on Gordon’s Dauphin Island Parkway office Aug. 23, according to records, and the clinic’s bankruptcy filing lists a debt of $350,000 to the bank. Three individuals foreclosed on Gordon’s Zeigler Boulevard office in May, citing a debt of nearly $200,000, records show.

The clinic has closed the Zeigler office and one in Birmingham, an employee said Tuesday. It continues to operate on St. Stephens Road, Dauphin Island Parkway and in Montgomery.

Spencer said he’d prefer that Gordon keep working and find a way to pay his debts.

"I don’t want my client to own a clinic," he said. "I want the Alabama Injury & Pain Clinic to return to its glory days when they had five or six locations."